Strategic Partnerships in Immigrant Education and Integration
The Community College Consortium for Immigrant Education’s strategic partnerships are expanding CCCIE’s policy reach and influencing the field.
Our Funding Partners
The work of the Community College Consortium for Immigrant Education would not be possible without the major support of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, a leader in the field of immigrant integration, which has provided CCCIE with its major financial support since its founding in 2008. We are especially appreciative of Suzette Brooks Masters, a champion and advocate for immigrant integration, for her commitment to CCCIE and understanding of the critical role that colleges play in successful immigrant education and integration.
CCCIE was also awarded a generous grant from The Kresge Foundation to build its capacity, strengthen its existing partnerships, and create new networks to integrate its work on immigrant education with broader national reform networks focused on college completion and workforce development.
CCCIE wishes to express its gratitude to our other funding partners listed below, in alphabetical order:
- The Annie E. Casey Foundation
- Bunker Hill Community College Foundation
- The Flower Hill Fund, Boston Foundation
- Lebensfeld Foundation
- Westchester Community College Foundation
- Other Anonymous Donors
Our Program Partners
American Association of Community Colleges
The strong support of AACC and its president Dr. Walter Bumphus has been instrumental to our work. CCCIE’s relationship with AACC offers unparalleled opportunities for the national dissemination of our initiatives and for reaching the senior leadership of the nation’s community colleges. AACC has provided opportunities to raise the visibility of CCCIE’s mission and work through published articles, interviews, and presentations at AACC-sponsored events. With the assistance of AACC Senior Staff Associate and Blue Ribbon Panel member Kevin Christian, CCCIE is reaching a broad audience of community college leaders and professionals through the Community College Times, Community College Journal, and multiple presentations to AACC’s constituents.
IMPRINT
CCCIE has joined forces with Upwardly Global, Welcome Back Initiative, Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians , and World Education Services in this national coalition which is active in the emerging field of immigrant professional integration. IMPRINT identifies and promotes best practices in the integration of immigrant professionals and advocates for policies at the national, state, and local levels that incorporate multilingual/multicultural talent. IMPRINT has produced numerous reports, articles, and issue briefs based on its monthly webinar series on such topics as Integrating Immigrant Health Professionals, What Adult Educators Need to Know About Serving Skilled Immigrants, and Promising Practices: How Community Colleges Are Serving Skilled Immigrant Students, which featured the work of CCCIE and best practices models from BRP member Miami Dade College.
Migration Policy Institute
Through its collaboration with MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, CCCIE becomes involved in critical research impacting policies and practices focused on college completion and workforce success for immigrant youth and adults. CCCIE’s Blue Ribbon Panel members provided important feedback for MPI’s research on high school completion, college access and post-secondary success of immigrant youth (ages 16 to 26) in five states, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and its earlier report DREAM vs. Reality: An Analysis of Potential DREAM Act Beneficiaries, a study of undocumented youth who might benefit from DREAM Act legislation or broader immigration reform. CCCIE’s recommendations to the White House Task Force on New Americans on a range of programs and resources for strengthening community colleges’ capacity to serve immigrant students are cited as a resource by MPI. We have also partnered with MPI in planning and presenting sessions at National Immigrant Integration Conferences.
National Council for Workforce Education
CCCIE’s partnership with the National Council for Workforce Education is shining a national spotlight on community college workforce development initiatives that increase educational and career opportunities for immigrant students. CCCIE is represented on NCWE’s Board of Directors and has also helped shape the annual conferences, which have increasingly attracted more immigrant-focused presentations. We also participate in NCWE’s Building Community Partnerships to Serve Immigrant Workers initiative, hosting meetings, sharing best practices, and disseminating results of the work.
National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good
CCCIE and the National Forum, based at the University of Michigan, have worked together to increase college access and completion for all immigrant students regardless of their status. A jointly sponsored symposium, focused on the critical role of community colleges in the United States as facilitators of immigrant student access to educational and workforce opportunities, resulted in the report, Open Access: Integrating Immigrant Students in America’s Community College. CCCIE also participated in a national online forum on increasing access for undocumented students that reached nearly 500 educators and was hosted by the National Forum and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.
National Immigration Forum
CCCIE has joined with leadership of the National Immigration Forum, Miami Dade College, and the Walmart Foundation to develop an innovative new program, Skills and Opportunity for the New American Workforce, to increase the English language skills among retail workers for whom English is a second language. We have delivered contextualized English instruction to over 500 employees in the retail sector and improved their communication and customer service skills, retention, and promotional opportunities. The project, now in Year 2 with continued funding from Walmart, is creating a scalable, sector-wide contextualized English language program to assist retailers to build stronger career pathways for their employees.
United We Dream
CCCIE has collaborated with DEEP—the Dream Educational Empowerment Program—an initiative of United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the nation. DEEP builds strategically aligned collaborations between UWD affiliates, K-12 educators, community college and university representatives, and community-based organizations and leaders to increase higher education access for undocumented youth and their parents. CCCIE has co-sponsored and participated in DEEP Conferences, which bring key stakeholders together to share strategies, tools, and resources promoting immigrant student success. CCCIE also participates and promotes UWD’s National Educators Coming Out Day, a social media and national action event in support of DACA, undocumented students, immigrant students, and refugees.
World Education Services
CCCIE and Global Talent Bridge (GTB), an initiative of World Education Services, have collaborated on numerous events and projects to promote the success of foreign-educated immigrants including:
- Pathways to Success seminars that provide information and resources to assist foreign-educated, skilled immigrants continue their education, obtain professional licensing or certification, and find suitable employment. The sessions have been highly successful, drawing hundreds from the immigrant community (both current students and the public at large).
- Professional Development forums that provide community college practitioners (from admissions, financial aid, student support services, and ESL) and their community partners with resources and best practices to assess and advise these students more effectively.
- Our online Bridging the Gap for Foreign-Educated Students guide, an interactive toolkit that provides resources to help colleges attract motivated students to college campuses and helps them navigate educational and career pathways.